Alan, Adesola and I attended a conference in Berlin this week about curriculum in art and design.  One of the more challenging questions for me was about assessment.  A lot of the questions sent to me by email have been about the assessments for the module, how much, where to put information etc.

Assessment is a complex beast.  On one level, assessment can be about demonstration.  it is the way we ensure that the learning outcomes have been met by the learner.  It should allow a number of different ways to demonstrate your learning.  This leads to the grade you receive and eventually to your qualification.

On another level, assessment can be about application.  This is the ability apply the knowledge and skills you have drawn upon and apply them to a different situation.  Things written about in text books or floating around in cyberspace on blogs or in articles can sometimes appear distant from our circumstances or even a little 2-D.  Assessment can give you the opportunity to make that 2-D seem more real and practical.  And of course, at the centre of work based learning is the idea that we learn by doing.

The question for me is ‘how important is assessment to you as the student?’  Without regular classes and readings, and with the idea that your learning occurs in the places where you work and practice, what proportion of your time is spent thinking about or completing assessments? Does the learning stop or continue when you hand in your assessment? Do you learn things that you don’t use in your assessment or do you focus on the learning that supports your assessment?

It would be great to hear your opinion!

I am interested in your thoughts on assessment.